


Kidnapping is a Valid Way to Make Money

by hydrabells



Category: Naruto
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Multi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-31
Updated: 2015-09-20
Packaged: 2018-04-18 06:58:12
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,085
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4696547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hydrabells/pseuds/hydrabells
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The Akatsuki severely misjudged the Hyuga clan- many, many times</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. They're Your Villains

Hyuga Hinata had never been as good of a ninja as her cousin Neji, or even her younger sister Hanabi, but even she knew that advantages were rare and not to be thrown away.  That instinct was the only thing stopping her from activating her byakugan on instinct, or at least opening her eyes.  Instead, she concentrated on maintaining her heartrate and breathing at a stable level, keeping her body loose and floppy as she tried to work out as much about her surroundings as possible.  She could feel movement, something hard underneath her and… wood?  There was a creaking noise, and heavy breathing…

_A…cart?  What happened?_

Her memories were fuzzy at best, she’d been walking- looking for sunflowers, she’d wanted something to give to Neji, since he was getting back from a mission the next day.  She’d thought the flowers would cheer him up enough that he wouldn’t mind too much if she asked him about Naruto and Jiraiya-sensei, since he was supposed to be passing near their location.  Her byakugan wasn’t activated at the time… she’d seen a flash of yellow, moved towards it and-

_And- and what?_

The cart went over a bump, and it took all she had to bite back a hiss of pain as nerves across her back screamed their displeasure at the rough treatment.  Hyugas tended to have wind affinities, so when she’d been working with her own fire nature, she’d burned herself on many occasions.  Those were minor burns, healed quickly by Sakura or Ino- this felt like her skin had shrunken stretched too tight around her left shoulder, spine and down to her right thigh.  Bizarrely, she could feel dampness in her hair and scalp, coupled with a clammy chill that made her think of a water technique, and- a sudden bump, and she was startled enough to gasp and feel cracked ribs across her right side. 

_Moving towards that yellow flash, she frowned- sunflowers grew around here, but she couldn’t see where… a quick movement of her hands to activate byakugan only to find herself propelled forward, a muffled boom sounding behind her and light that blinded over-sensitized eyes.  Landing hard, she scrambled forward- the explosion had scorched her clothes half off, she could feel her skin blistering- only to suddenly be choking, water in a sphere around her head, but her eyes had recovered enough to make out the chakra signature of the water user, and there wasn’t time to think of the irregularity she could see in the chakra coils, only enough to throw shuriken, lightning chakra crackling through them as they were intercepted, lazily, by another stream of water- only for the lightning to disperse, causing the water user to lose concentration as she gasped for breath- and tripped, her feet caught up by rope that snaked up her body, squeezing too tight over the burn and her ribs, pain flickering up her spine strong enough to send black spots through her vision, and then there was no more vision, only…_

She shuddered as she remembered the sensation of blacking out, only to register her heartrate and breathing- both of which were _way too fast_ \- and muffled speech in front of her.  An argument?  Guessing her advantage was gone, she opened her eyes to see only dust and dark, stained timber slats before the doors at the back were thrown open and she was blinded by sunlight again.  The first colour she could make out was- yellow? 

A man, he looked a little bit older than her, was standing on the very outer edge of the cart, a light breeze picking up strands of hair and blowing them backwards.  She scrambled backwards as he grinned, the sun glancing off of white teeth.  As it sometimes did, panic had her byakugan activating involuntarily and she could see him properly- a black cloak with red clouds patterned across it, unzipped and flying out like a cape, loose grey pants and midriff baring shirt with standard mesh armor underneath.  His chakra system was the most fascinating feature- his heart coils were engorged, twisting into one thick rope that appeared to terminate just above his heart as though it opened to skin.  Similar features at his hands, with brachial coils that were too thick for his actual chakra levels, which were masked but not monstrous enough to warrant those ropey coils.  Strangely, the coils around his stomach were equally large, and she almost mistook the stomach and oesophagus _for_ a coil, based on colour.  The chakra around his left eye was slightly distorted, but not enough to warrant much thought- and then, she could see most of the man driving the cart.  His chakra was what had hit her, but there was something wrong- it was like he had four, no, five different chakra signatures overlapping each other and coiling into five separate- hearts? 

“Oh.  You’re awake, Hyuga-san?  Sorry for the rough treatment, yeah- my partner’s out of touch with the amount of force required on humans.”  The last sentence was said with a dry sort of humour, which was…unnerving.  The blond looked down at her briefly before swinging into the cart proper and pulling the doors shut. 

“Oi, Kakuzu, a bit of light?  She’s not going anywhere.”   
Hinata made out an annoyed grunt before the driver- Kakuzu? Bit out an annoyed response.  The blond rolled his eyes before grinning and making a quick hand seal as Hinata flinched backwards- and a crack sounded as a small explosion blew a hole in the roof roughly twice as big as a soccer ball.  Hinata yelped as a charred piece of wood landed on her lap while the blond laughed at her.

“Deidara!  This cart _was_ worth at least half a million ryo!  I was going to sell it after we were done- you’ll be making up the difference in price.” 

“Art is priceless, Kakuzu~!  Money means nothing to an artist, yeah!”  That statement was followed by a particularly nasty jolt in the road, which almost knocked the blond- Deidara?  Off balance, and sent another lick of pain through Hinata’s body.  She gritted her teeth and glared, although the effect was ruined at the next bump when she cried out in pain again.  Deidara laughed, before looking somewhat contrite and grinning. 

“Hyuga-san, how do you feel about art?”

Hinata blinked.  Maybe the pain was causing hallucinations.  There was _no way_ that some kidnapping madman with one of the weirdest chakra signatures she’d ever seen was asking her about art, but he was giving her an expectant look like he really wanted an answer. 

“Um… I’m sorry, I think I misheard you?”

“Art, Hyuga-san!  What do you think _true art_ is?”

“Um… like, paint or calligraphy?  I don’t really know a lot about art...”  She had enjoyed flower arranging and calligraphy when they’d been taught at the academy, but her family had been more interested in training than art.

“What?  What do they teach in Konoha?  Everyone should have an opinion about art, yeah!  Paint or calligraphy?  Art is more than some marks on paper!  Art should make you _feel_ , should fill you with awe or fear!  Art should be…an explosion!  Hyuga-san… it’s important that everyone finds their art, yeah?”  Deidara shot her a disappointed look, and Hinata flinched back, half expecting some sort of violence.  Strangely, that never came.  Instead, Deidara sighed and opened one of the bags hanging around his hips, pulling some smooth, white substance out.  Clay, maybe?  The coils around his hands expanded slightly, but his hands were at an angle that she couldn’t quite make out what was happening.  His fingers started to move, forming the clay into something long and flat with hundreds of tiny legs.  A brief moment, and another seal forced what looked like chakra into the clay, puffing it up until it was about twice as long as Hinata.  The thing- it looked like a millipede, but flattened, scuttled along the floor as Hinata pressed herself back against the wall of the cart, unable to stop it from coiling around her body. 

“Better to be safe than sorry when it comes to someone with an eye jutsu.  If you struggle too much, this piece is set to detonate.  The clay should absorb most of the shock from the road, though, so relax and enjoy the ride!”  With that proclamation, Deidara pumped chakra to his legs and jumped out of the hole in the roof of the cart.  Hinata’s byakugan focused on what looked like a dragon flying towards Deidara, who landed on its back with almost cat-like agility.  She watched as it flew upwards and began to circle the cart, roughly a kilometre up.

The clay centipede had softened around her arms and legs, holding them completely immobile.  The coolness of the clay did, at least, make her back feel a bit better, and Deidara hadn’t been lying about the shock absorption either.  Letting her byakugan deactivate, Hinata resigned herself to waiting for a rescue or an escape attempt once the cart stopped.

Honestly, Deidara was starting to wonder why his great and glorious leader had bothered to send him on this mission.  Kakuzu had taken the Hyuga out without breaking a sweat, and so far nobody had bothered to come after her.  They’d almost reached the border already, and while he would never turn down a chance to use his art, he couldn’t help but feel that flying himself and the Hyuga over the border was a bit…overkill. 

Not to mention that the girl had next to no apparent talent as a ninja!  She’d given Kakuzu a mild shock, but hadn’t even put up a fight when he’d bound her.  He was keeping an eye on her with his scope in case she was just bluffing him, but it looked like she’d given up on escape.  If it weren’t for his poor history with eye jutsu users, he’d leave Kakuzu to it and fly ahead on his own out of boredom.  Sighing, he circled above the cart again, looking behind them for pursuers, praying that he’d see _something_ interesting.

In fact, it seemed that the gods had decided to reward him today.  He might not have noticed if he hadn’t had his scope set on infrared vision, but a set of heat signatures were following them at speed.  He guessed they’d catch up in… 10 minutes, roughly.  A grin stretched across his face as he opened his clay bags, burying his hands and circulating the clay through his chakra coils, infusing it with his own explosive chakra.  Humming, he kept circling, as if he hadn’t noticed the pursuing group.  It looked like there were five of them, although one was distinctly hotter than the rest.   
  
An anticipatory smile stretched across his face as formed several tiny insects and snakes, pumping them with C1 level chakra before dropping them off of the dragon.  Watching their progress carefully with his scope, he set them up in a clearing about two minutes ahead of the pursuing group, each bomb burying itself a few centimetres below the earth.  While he waited, he prepared some small clay sparrows, setting them to fly down to the same clearing and perch on the branches of the trees surrounding it.  Sitting cross-legged, he waited for the group to enter the trap- only to them split up early, two members peeling off from the rest.  Frowning, Deidara waited for the main group to reach the clearing- and there, the first explosion detonated, setting off a chain reaction that engulfed the three unlucky pursuers.  Deidara laughed in triumph at his easy win- only to notice a cloud of heat flying towards him. 

He banked hard away from the cloud, switching his scope off briefly to see what was coming after him- bugs, a cloud of them roughly twice as large as his dragon.  A muttered curse- that must be how they caught up, if the Hyuga had an insect on her, and Deidara grabbed a spare C2 dragon and waited for the cloud of insects to get within range before flipping off his current dragon, using the force of the explosion to annihilate the bug cloud and propel himself backwards, throwing the dragon behind him and landing on it just as it inflated to its full size.  Quickly forcing the dragon’s wings open and controlling their fall, he switched back to infrared to check the progress of the remaining trackers.  It looked like two figures had been incapacitated by his explosion, while another had lost heat and was crumpled on the ground- the bug user, he guessed.  The other two were running alongside the cart- which was slowing down.  Frowning, Deidara threw two homing birds outwards, both of which locked on to the figures and flew towards them, only to be sliced in half by two blasts of air when they got too close. 

Guessing his surprise advantage was well and truly gone by now, Deidara and the dragon dove towards the group.  Suspicious of the cart’s slowdown, he pulled his scope off and focused his chakra across the left eye’s retina, sending more homing birds as distractions while he dropped several clay snakes to sneak up from behind- but all of those were destroyed by more of the same air blasts.  He’d gotten close enough to make out the two pursuers, luckily- both had dark hair, although one was clearly a woman wearing distinctive clothing.  Something about her was familiar, and a page from the bingo book presented itself- Yuhi Kurenai, genjutsu specialist and A-ranked Konoha jonin.  Counting himself lucky that she didn’t know about his left eye’s ability, he checked her partner- long, smooth hair that reminded him of Hinata’s, white clothing, male, Deidara had a bad feeling about him.  He sent another three birds down, all at the man- who sliced through them without moving his head to see them.  Briefly, he closed his left eye to check if Yuhi had put a genjutsu up- and there, a tree that hadn’t been there before was in front of him.  Opening the eye to see the tree shimmer and disappear, Deidara gained height to avoid the area completely.  If the man was a Hyuga, surprise wouldn’t work, so he decided to create a distraction.  The dragon’s mouth opened and several smaller versions of itself launched themselves out of it, screaming towards the two.  All had been loaded with C2 chakra, and when the Hyuga tried to slice through them, they split into smaller versions of the dragon and continued forward, surrounding them.  Deidara watched as the man dropped back, the dragons tracking his movement as he began to spin- only to find his feet slipping into the dirt, which was actually the remains of the snakes that he’d sent after them.  A look of horror flashed across the Hyuga’s face before Deidara detonated the snakes.

Yuhi was the last left, and she’d almost caught up to the cart.  Deidara checked her genjutsu again- and it looked like she’d manipulated the position of the trees.  If Kakuzu was caught, he’d drive the cart straight into one particularly large oak while thinking he was following the path.  Guessing that was the opportunity Yuhi wanted to take back Hinata, he jumped off of the dragon and landed on the roof of the cart.  Kakuzu glared up at him.

“Deidara, hurry up.  Time is money!”

Deidara muttered a vague response back as he waited for them to get closer to the trap, planning to surprise Yuhi who was crouched at the top of the tree she expected them to run into.  Moulding several small birds, he glanced around as though uncertain.  Just as they were a few metres away, the birds shot towards Yuhi as he had planned- the look of shock on her face was gratifying as she barely dodged and dropped the genjutsu.  Kakuzu steered the cart away from the tree, appearing to have been prepared for it to appear.

“Deidara.  Aren’t you going to kill her?”  Kakuzu asked, a tone in his voice that suggested it wasn’t really a question.

“Why should I?  She’s given up.  Aren’t we supposed to be focused on growing Akatsuki’s reputation?  If she survives, she’ll spread stories about us.”

Kakuzu looked somewhat conflicted- Kurenai had a reasonable bounty on her head, but Deidara wasn’t wrong.  If she survived them, her bounty might even grow…

“Very well.  We’ll continue, then.”

Much to Deidara’s dismay, the rest of the trip progressed hazard-free, and Hinata swam in and out of consciousness until they arrived at Ame.


	2. Palm of Your Hand

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so an artist, a cheapskate and a Hyuga walk into an evil organisation's headquarters...

In fact, Kurenai had _not_ given up.  There was a reason she’d been assigned to a squad intended to specialise in tracking, after all.  After those birds had detonated in her face, she’d used the blast to drop back far enough that she (probably) wouldn’t be detected, tracking the cart through the underbrush.  Kiba and Akamaru had escaped the worst of the ambush blast, and were able to carry Neji to safety, despite the painful looking burns curling up his legs.  Shino had fallen into a semi-conscious state from the sudden decimation of his colony, but would recover in a few hours.  Free to pursue, she tracked them all the way to Amegakure before hesitating- some sense told her she was best to turn back there.  Pausing just beyond the city border, she half shut her eyes and felt for chakra signatures, only to sense several deep within the city that made her stomach turn.

_Just what is this city, to have such monsters?_

Grimacing in defeat, she turned and began the journey back to Konoha to get reinforcements.

* * *

 

Honestly, Deidara wasn’t particularly happy about this mission- kidnapping a Hyuga?  He didn’t know a _lot_ about the byakugan, but what he did know made him feel distinctly unhappy: perfect 359 degree vision, some sort of mysteriously strong taijutsu and a raft of other secret techniques, not to mention seeing chakra?  No thank you.  He wasn’t a fan of dojutsu to begin with, and while so far he’d been disappointed by the Hyuga clan, he wasn’t going to let his guard down against _another fucking dojutsu_.  No way.

Thus, he was perfectly happy to let Kakuzu take care of the girl, letting his centipede crawl off of her and up around his own arm before letting his chakra dissipate out of it.  The centipede shrunk down, the heat from his chakra drying it to dust which he brushed off of his cloak before pressing his hand to the door.  His ring, _ao_ , and Kakuzu’s _hoku_ both glowed as they pushed the door open.  Had they not been wearing the rings, they would have triggered a seal trapping them inside the building.  Deidara ignored the next seal, which locked roughly 90% of hischakra inside of his body and had the unpleasant side effect of causing capillaries in his fingertips and toes to burst- no one could deny that Akatsuki headquarters was well protected, at least.  Hinata, who was not recognized as a member by the wards, was suffering from having her entire chakra system’s functionality reduced to the bare minimum required for survival (forcing her into a near comatose state), and a complete inability to leave the boundaries of the perimeter seal. Her own body wouldn’t be as badly affected by the chakra restrictions, since she had less chakra than the Akatsuki members, but she’d bruise easily from the pressure that her blocked chakra coils would be putting on her blood vessels.

Based on Kakuzu’s usual treatment of Hidan, Hinata would have a lot of bruises by the time she made it out of the tower.

After passing the second seal, they were able to enter the central, spiralling stairwell that led up to each floor.  While the first floor of the tower was relatively nondescript- consisting of a kitchen, a rarely used common room, baths, toilets and dining, the second floor contained Kakuzu and Hidan’s rooms, as well as access to the treasury (which adjoined to Kakuzu’s room and was also, rumour held, accessible from the top floor of the tower) and a rarely discussed ‘prayer chamber’ that most members preferred not to think about.  The entire floor and all above it was protected by another seal, which caused any non-Akatsuki member’s senses to be immediately sealed away.  Luckily, Hinata was already unconscious- Deidara had seen the effects of prolonged complete sensory deprivation before, and it wasn’t something he wanted to see again.

The third floor was Deidara and Sasori’s quarters.  It also housed the Akatsuki’s poison stores, a huge quantity of Deidara’s clay (the tower’s chakra restrictions prevented him from making any serious explosives, unfortunately) and a large portion of Sasori’s hideously specialised and expensive puppet maintenance equipment.  Their floor was protected by a rather fascinating, chakra sensitive array of poisoned blades and explosives that he and Sasori had constructed and lovingly modified on a regular basis.  If anyone bar he or Sasori stumbled out of the stairwell and onto the floor proper, they would instantly be poisoned, eviscerated and then violently detonated from the inside out, in that order. 

The fourth floor was equally well protected, because it housed Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame.  Kisame and Itachi had worked out their own trap, a remotely activated jutsu that caused trespassers to be engulfed in a genjutsu that featured their organs being devoured by sharks.  Luckily, the pair had deactivated it in rare consideration for their guest.

The fifth floor was as far upwards as Deidara had ever been allowed, although the tower itself consisted of seven floors and a basement (which was also prohibited).  It was where they conducted their meetings and received assignments, and Konan was expecting them there to confirm their success.  It was protected by a final seal, of a function that had never been revealed.  It had been modified to allow Hyuga chakra to cross it without triggering whatever purpose it had, or so Deidara and Kakuzu had been told.

Hinata’s head thumped dully against the doorframe as they left the stairwell, and a bruise almost immediately began to spread outwards from her left cheek.  Kakuzu dumped her in one of the chairs that furnished the small antechamber outside of the main meeting room, and Deidara leaned against a wall and watched her.  They waited less than a minute before a swirl of paper appeared in the centre of the room, almost immediately coalescing into the shape of a tall woman with blue hair and an icy gaze. 

“This is Hyuga Hinata?” Konan asked.

“Confirmed.  No incidents to report.  Is the bounty still the same?”  Kakuzu’s eyes took on a gleam that Deidara had come to loathe over the course of their two day trip together.

“Of course.  Our client wishes her to be kept for an as of yet unidentified time span.  He has paid in advance for the next six months.  Based on our research, she should pose little threat to us, and so we have decided to assign her to a team until given further instructions.  In this way, we will be able to gather intelligence on Konoha and the Hyuga clan without violating our client’s desire to keep her undamaged.  Her…mortality makes her unsuitable to be assigned to you and Hidan, Kakuzu... Itachi’s reputation would likely result in reduced cooperation from her as well.  Deidara.  Do I have your word that this girl will remain unharmed if assigned to you and Sasori?”  Konan gave him a look that made it very clear that failure was not an option.  Deidara nodded the affirmative, and Konan smiled.

“Excellent.  Her skills should be useful, provided you and Sasori are able to control her.  All of you can have a week off regular duty in order to integrate her into your team.  Your presences will not be required in Amegakure, should you choose to travel.”

“I’ll speak to Master Sasori about it.”

Konan nodded, before handing him an intricate origami flower with lines of ink running through it.  “This will allow her the same access as you and Sasori, excluding the poison store and Sasori’s workshop, provided she has it against her skin in some manner.  Do either of you have any questions?”

Both he and Kakuzu answered in the negative, Deidara reluctantly taking the Hyuga girl’s weight and bringing her down to his and Sasori’s floor while Kakuzu disappeared to examine Akatsuki’s finances.

* * *

 

Hinata awoke to find herself sitting on the ground, slumped against a wall.  Her eyes flew open as she sneezed, and a soft cloud of dust rose up from the sudden movement.  Her entire body ached, and she could see bruises on her arms and legs- she was still wearing the same clothes, which was a relief despite how filthy they were.  Blinking dust out of her eyes, her vision came back to its normal clarity, only for her to register the blurry shape in front of her as a _snake_ -

“Whoa, calm down!  It’s not real, Christ, _stop screaming_!”

Dust slipped through her mouth, and Hinata’s scream turned into a violent cough as she realised that yes, she had just screamed at a clay snake.  It had been a rough few days.  Or, had it?

“How long have I been gone?”  Her voice caught, the realisation that she’d been _kidnapped_ starting to set in.

“2 days.  Better get used to it, too.  Your accommodation’s been paid for the next six months, yeah.”

_Six months?!_

“Don’t try using that byakugan either.  90% of your chakra’s locked down as long as you’re in this building, and don’t go anywhere other than where I or any other Akatsuki member tell you, since this whole tower’s littered with seals and traps.”  Deidara looked, Hinata thought, rather proud of that.

“What’s the Akatsuki?” was her next question.  Deidara looked honestly crushed.

“Akatsuki is this organization.  We’re working towards…um…world peace, yeah?  Leader has the specifics.  Anyway, the first step to world peace is to earn money, which is why you’re here.”  Deidara crossed his arms and made to turn back around to the bench behind him.  “Are you done asking questions?  Master Sasori will be back in a few hours, and then you can try with him.”  There was a faint note of pleasure in Deidara’s voice at the prospect of ‘Master Sasori’’s return.  Hinata felt some of the blood drain from her face at the idea of meeting him.

“Hope you’ve undergone toxin resistance training!”  Was Deidara’s parting line, filling Hinata with further dread because _no, she had not, that was for ANBU only why would she have taken toxin resistance training as a chunin?_

Deciding watching Deidara might give her some insight into her situation, she was surprised to see he’d already turned away from her to sit at an uncomfortable looking stool, back curled as he worked on something.  The scratch of pencil on paper, combined with the occasional unintelligible mutter from Deidara was the only sound as she examined the sketches- plans, maybe, pinned to the wall in front of him.  Numerous flying monsters that looked like combinations of things she’d seen in picture books and field handbooks, all meticulously labelled, measured and scaled.  Some markings on the plans were clear- measurements and weights of different sections, while others left her clueless.  The drawings seemed to be arranged in rough sections- clumps labelled C1, or C2, occasionally C3.  What that meant, she had no idea. 

A low hum slipped out of Deidara’s mouth as he turned and stood, disappearing behind a heavy white curtain.

“Hyuga-san, stay where I can see you if you don’t want to be restrained.” He called out, cheerfully.

Hinata nearly choked as she stood as she felt stiffness in almost every joint and muscle.  Slowly, delicately, she pushed aside the curtain to join Deidara, only to nearly lose her breath again.  The area behind the curtain far larger than what she guessed must be his drafting room, with huge bags of pure white clay stacked along one wall.  There were numerous half-finished or drying sculptures scattered around the room, almost all based on some sort of animal or mythical creature.  Deidara was standing in front of one of the largest, a bird that reminded her of a hawk, with spines running down its back and nose.  The wings were only half-added, short stubs protruding from its back.  Deidara was grabbing handfuls of clay at a time and pressing them on to the left stub, smoothing them down to elongate further.  Every so often, he’d check the dimensions with a tape measure before adding more.

There was something hypnotic about watching him, and his actions seemed to take on a smooth rhythm of adding, smoothing and checking.  Eventually, the wing took shape.  Its own weight had forced it to slump, a problem fixed by Deidara looping fabric beneath the wing and attaching it to ceiling to suspend it in a slightly raised position.  Then, he worked on details- the wing ended in wedges, each wedge consisted of further tile like additions with smoothed off as they progressed further from the wing tip. A line of clay was added to the front of the wing to form a wingbone, and the bottom of the wing was further smoothed.  Upon its completion, Deidara moved around to the second wing.  Transfixed, Hinata didn’t notice the entry of the second person until she felt the acrid burn of poison against her neck.

“Deidara.  What is this?”  A rough, gravelly voice reverberated through the previously silent room.

“Ah, Master Sasori!  That’s the Hyuga girl Kakuzu and I were assigned to kidnap.  She’ll be staying with us for the next six months, yeah.” was Deidara’s cheery response.

“What’s her ranking?” Sasori asked.

“Hm… The bingo book had her at B, but she went down pretty easily… I’d say a C in actual combat.  The byakugan must have increased her rank, yeah.”

Hinata flushed in embarrassment.  Sure, she had gone down easily, but she’d earned a B ranking!  In taijutsu, she’d definitely be able to press most ninja! 

“Oh?  She sounds like she disagrees, Deidara.  I fought a Hyuga once… Their clan is not the type to produce C ranked shinobi.”

Hinata’s flush deepened at the realisation that she hadn’t kept her annoyance silent.  Deidara looked amused, which made her even more embarrassed, but at least the poison had been moved away from her neck.  She could feel a drop dripping down her chest, but studiously ignored it.

“Sure, Kakuzu was the one who took her…  Since she’s here for six months, it makes sense to gather information, yeah.  Hyuga-san, are you strong enough for taijutsu?  I’ll decide my ranking after I’ve fought you, yeah!”

Normally, she’d say no, but ‘ _the byakugan must have increased her rank, yeah’_ , was still echoing in her head, so

“I’m strong enough.  Is it okay to spar in here?”  Hinata could feel her heartrate starting to increase as Deidara considered and then nodded.

“These are all prototypes and models, so I don’t mind if they get damaged.  Master Sasori, will you judge?  Hyuga-san, where I was trained we counted points by blood, but since I’m prohibited from permanently injuring you… Clean hits will count as a point each.  We’ll fight to 5, at Master Sasori’s discretion, yeah.”  Sasori nodded in approval of Deidara’s plan, shuffling to take a place at the side of the room.

“Deidara.  Don’t embarrass yourself.” He growled, while Deidara made a dismissive noise and slipped on a pair of fingerless gloves procured from his pockets.  Hinata stood, twisting her arms and hands in preparation as they moved to stand opposite of each other.  Only 10% of her chakra was available, so she wouldn’t be able to maintain the byakugan and use gentle fist for longer than… five minutes, she guessed.  Hoping that would be enough, she locked eyes with Deidara as Sasori signalled the start of the spar.

Activating her byakugan immediately, she could feel the reluctance of her chakra system as her vision immediately expanded and sharpened, and she barely dodged Deidara’s first strike, a strike to her stomach with a flattened palm.  She could see the tenketsu point on his palm was massively engorged, an obvious target, making a note to hit there if her byakugan failed.  Keeping an eye on his coils as she leapt backwards to avoid a sweeping kick, she could see he wasn’t using any chakra, which was…insulting.

Enough to annoy her, at least, and she stepped back in again as he lashed outwards as if to slap her, only for her to stretch, slamming her elbow into his hand and forcing a concentrated burst of chakra into the tenketsu point.  She was rewarded with a grunt of pain from Deidara, and she could see from his dilated pupils and increased breathing rate that that had hurt him, badly.  359 degree vison showed Sasori’s tail flicking up and to the left- a point to her.

His right hand pulled back into a defensive position and he curled both hands up into tight fists- it was a motion that didn’t seem natural to him, but she didn’t have time to think about that as he twisted, kicking at the inside of her knee with adrenaline fuelled speed, and she could feel that he’d held back from shattering the bone as he stepped around her, slamming a fist into her ribs and knocking the air from her lungs.  Gasping, registering the two points Sasori awarded to him and barely missing a third as his left fist struck her hair instead of her shoulder, she turned and forced another spike of chakra into the tenketsu point on his left hip, feeling him jerk at the pain, only to find herself forced to the floor by an elbow to her back.  She scrambled up, defensive as they both blocked each other’s strikes, only for her to see the opportunity and strike towards his chest.  His eyes widened, and she saw the blow coming that she couldn’t avoid as an open palm slammed into her elbow and almost cracked the bone.  A cry of pain tore out of her chest as she reached around to strike at his unguarded neck-

Only to feel herself abruptly paralysed by thin strands of chakra she hadn’t noticed before.  Deidara appeared to be in a similar position, before being released and holding up his hands with a laugh.  Hinata was held a few moments longer before the strings detached and disappeared.

“I’m a long distance fighter, but I used to train heavily with taijutsu.  You have more natural aptitude for it than I did.  The bingo book was right, yeah.  You agree, Master Sasori?”

“The Hyuga are known for their taijutsu.  If she couldn’t manage that much, I’d say you got the wrong girl.  Bingo books are usually reliable.”  Sasori moved to a door Hinata hadn’t noticed before, his tail swinging up to open it.  “I have modifications to make.  Deidara, her clan will come after her.  Your techniques will need work.”

Deidara nodded as Sasoril shuffled away.

“That was impressive.  He thinks so too, although he never says so.  You’ll need to get cleaned up if you’re staying with us.  Follow me, yeah.”  Deidara grinned and pushed through the curtain, wincing as it brushed against his palm.  Ignoring his sketches, he pushed open another door to reveal a Spartan bedroom with a futon, a large bed and a closet as the only furnishings.  Another door was opened to reveal a more well-furnished bathroom, with a surprising number of bottles in the shower and a large vanity and toilet. 

“Shower in there, just use my stuff.  I can pick up whatever you want next time I go out.  There’s a spare towel in the vanity.  I have work to do, but I’ll find some clothes and lay them out on the bed.  Don’t try to escape, or you’ll probably end up in several more pieces than you’re meant to… or a trial subject for one of Master Sasori’s toxins, yeah!”  Deidara winked at her and shut the door, leaving her alone in the bathroom.  Hinata blinked in surprise and, finally processing her own scent, began to strip, wincing at the numerous _new_ aches and pains.  The water in the shower ran hot almost instantly, and she stepped in, content to let the pressure and heat work out some of the stiffness.                                                                                                         

**Author's Note:**

> You see a lot of Sakura/Akatsuki type fics (which I love honestly) so I was curious as to what would happen if I tried something like that with Hinata instead of Sakura! I have no idea where this is going to go, but please let me know what you think!


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